Bethany Hagen's Blog

Tristina Wright tagged me for the Lucky 7 Meme.  Here are the rules:

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next seven lines as they’re written–no cheating!
4. Tag 7 other writers
5. Let them know

Alright–here it goes.  Seven lines from Landry Park:

Ewan pulled a wrapped package out of his pocket and handed it to me.

“I can’t take that.”

“It’s not radioactive, I promise. Just got it from the ration station before the

raid.”

“No, not that. I meant I couldn’t take it because it’s yours. Your food. I

can’t take that knowing—” I stopped. It seemed rude to imply directly to a

Rootless that I knew they were starving.

————————–

Melissa Lytton

Angela Parkhurst

Lisa Otto

Melissa Brady King

Katie Ernst

Michelle Bruhn

Melissa Hurst

Your turn!

I have an agent!

And yes, it is the Dream Agent I did the Revise and Resubmit for.

While I wouldn’t recommend an R&R as way to maintain sanity, I’m beyond grateful that it worked out.  Mollie Glick of Foundry Media liked my revision enough to offer to represent me, and I — duh — said yes!  I first heard of Mollie when she flew out to Kansas City to convince Gennifer Albin to choose her as an agent.  It was so above and beyond anything I’ve ever heard of an agent doing, that I decided whenever I was ready to query, that lady was going to be at the top of my list.  And when she asked for an R&R, I decided that I would do it for a couple reasons: number one, her insights for revision would make Landry Park a better book, and number two, I knew that if she was willing to invest that much energy into talking with me about the book, then she would invest a ton more if she ever represented me.

So, yes.  I have an agent and (fingers crossed) submissions will happen soon.  Hopefully within a few months, Professor Farnsworth will have more news to announce to you all.

I remember in college one of my writing instructors asked how we all stayed motivated and managed to churn out our writing assignments.  The most common answer was a shrug, and “Well, I had to turn the story in the next day so…you know.”

I think I work best under a deadline.  And not only a deadline, but in busy seasons, where there are dinners to be made and babies to cuddle and libraries needing tending.  When I only have one or two hours a few times a week to sit down and write, it forces me to honor those times, to fill them up with sweat and tears.  I don’t have time for writer’s block.  I don’t have time to sit and ponder the next scene.  I just have to roll up my sleeves and work.  And even though I dream about the day when my writing can support my family and I won’t need a day (or night and weekend) job, I know that I will have to adjust to having so much time to write.  I’ll have to adjust to freedom.  Because right now, the gift of no time is what forces me to work, to put my nose to the grindstone, even when I’m tired or sick or depressed or happy or want to curl up with a beer and my DVR.

My baby nuclear Frankenstein has been returned to me by Professor Lupin and Professor McGonagall, and I’m ready to rock and roll on some final revisions before I send it back to the agent who requested the revise and resubmit.  (*proverbial fingers crossed*)

Revisions are a funny thing.  In that they’re not that funny at all actually, and they end up taking more time and angst than the actual writing of the thing did.  This novel has been through so many incarnations, so many slash-and-burn rewrites, that when Professor McGonagall was like, “I think you should add a few things,” which would be another week or two’s worth of work, I was relieved.

Only add?  Only another week or two?

That’s nothing.  After these last three years wrestling with Landry Park’s severe labor dystocia, I can handle that.

I think.

Warning: I discuss the previous season in detail, and spoil the gasp-worthy moments.  So if you haven’t seen the show yet, beware!

The subtleties are back.  They are back.

Now some “people” may “argue” that the “subtleties” are not so “subtle,” as if Turkish lovers expiring mid-coitus and soap-dropping, baby-killing maids aren’t subtle.

People, please.  When the principal elements of a romance consist mainly of looks across the parlor, and then more looks across the dinner table, and then a part where Lady Mary looks at Matthew and he doesn’t see, and then he looks at her and she doesn’t see — those are the television moments that earn me shrieking, “The subtleties!”

So.  For those of you who have been under a rock or under a rock where Masterpiece Classic isn’t on your radar, here’s the gist of the show.

There’s the afore-mentioned abbey:

Highclere Castle which plays the part of Downton Abbey.

There’s the family Crawley, which consists of three daughters, two beautiful ones and another one named Edith:

Lady Sybil, Lady Mary, and Lady Edith...who is evil.

And the Earl and Countess of Grantham, their parents:

And the nearest male heir, the dashing Matthew Crawley:

"I'd rather be lawyering right now."

And then there’s some servants: the evil Thomas and O’Brien, the sweet Anna and Mr. Bates, the cute Daisy and William.

The drama of the show revolves around the stickier points of primogeniture.  After their cousin and presumptive fiancee of Lady Mary dies on the Titanic, the next male heir in line is a distant cousin Matthew.  And, even though it was Cora Crawley’s American money that saved the estate, the money is tied to the title and both will be inherited by Matthew, leaving the Crawley girls penniless and homeless after the Earl of Grantham dies.

So everybody thinks it would be a REALLY, REALLY GOOD IDEA for Lady Mary to wiggle her startling eyebrows at Matthew and snag herself some heir action.

Like this.

But.

Lady Mary is not easily controlled or persuaded.  She, along with Maggie Smith — Grandmother Grantham  — decidedly do not like Matthew or his mother, and really, though Matthew thinks Mary’s eyebrows are nice and all, he’s not too sure about Downton Abbey either.  A few misunderstandings and a dead Turkish lover later, Mary begins to realize that she does love Mr. Lawyerface and they kiss.  At the same time, Cora has discovered she’s pregnant again.  Could it be the long-awaited brother, the answer to everyone’s prayers?

Well, because of evil meanie purposes, the maid O’Brien makes sure we never find out how a brother would have impacted the abbey.  After Cora loses the baby, and Mary and Matthew meet, he realizes he can never be sure whether Mary is marrying him because he is the heir or because she loves him.  And then he leaves, because the subtleties were all too much for him, and apparently Manchester has a much more manageable set of subtleties.

That’s the first season in a tiny nutshell.  I’m leaving a lot out — there’s stuff about history and there’s remarkably written secondary characters and lots of beautiful dresses and castle rooms.  There’s Maggie Smith!  There’s Dan Stevens!

By the way, I’m really surprised that of all the Downton Abbey Tumblrs, there isn’t something akin to the “Hey Girl” Ryan Gosling memes.

Hey girl, I'm ready to save your estate and your shattered sense of self-worth due to Edwardian property legalities and post-Victorian mores.

I saw a post about writing music on Veronica Roth’s blog and felt inspired to share some of my Landry Park writing tunes.  I’m a little eccentric about my writing music — number one, I have to have it to work, and number two, I vacillate between being ultra picky about my playlist and being completely cavalier (some days, I turn on the Beck or the Tori Amos station on Pandora and just get to work.)

But for the most part, I am not that casual about it.  I tailor playlists for certain moods, for certain scenes, for certain emotions that are currently playing out in my characters.   Like Veronica’s list, this music isn’t all from 2011, especially since I’ve been working on this novel in its many incarnations since 2008.  Some of it is old.  Some of it is very old (said in Legolas voice.)

My favorite songs for atmosphere and mood:

Even though Landry Park is set 200 years in the future and the crux of the plot centers around nuclear technology, the feel of the novel is somewhere between Gone with the Wind and Mansfield Park.  So for dinner scenes or ballroom scenes or for wandering in the garden fog scenes, I’ve got violins and pianos from Pride and Prejudice:

A Postcard to Henry Purcell — Jean Ives Thibaudet.

Meryton Townhall — Jean Ives Thibaudet

Some other brilliant atmosphere songs:

Evey Reborn — Dario Marianelli.  This one has been with me since the very, very beginning, when Landry Park was a very, very different novel.

Intro — The xx.

Here Comes a Chopper (to Chop Your Head Off) — Strangeletter.  Can you get any cuter than that lead singer?  Yowza.

 Half a Man — Methodic Doubt.

Hayling –FC Kahuna.  Love.

Primavera — Ludovico Einaudi.  I found this on Veronica Roth’s blog, and have been OBSESSED ever since.  It might be the most beautiful instrumental song ever.

Character songs:

What Goes Around…Comes Around — Justin Timberlake.  This is one of my favorite videos ever.  Opulence and carelessness and revenge…and beautiful people being angsty.  I could probably watch Justin Timberlake and Scarlett Johannsen make pancakes and still be invested in it.

Love Hurts — Incubus.

Heavy in Your Arms — Florence and the Machine.  Actually, any song by Florence.  FATM is pretty much the soundtrack for my protagonist.  (By the way, have you heard her cover of Drake’s Take Care?)

Born to Die — Lana Del Rey.  Another singer I listen to constantly while writing. (Video Games is crazy good too.)

The Royal We — Silversun Pickups

Panic Switch — Silversun Pickups

The Words That Maketh Murder — PJ Harvey

I Am Stretched Out on Your Grave — Kate Rusby

Power — Kanye West

In Vain — loveliesbleeding.  Probably my favorite song of all time.  All time.

Leicester — loveliesbleeding.  This one’s cheating a bit, because I wrote the lyrics, but loveliesbleeding turns words into something else.

So there’s your music fix for the week.  There’s a lot of other songs I listen to while writing, but these are the ones I specifically seek out for re-inspiration.  And for anyone who’s interested in a revision update, I think I’m probably a few good days away from sending it to my critique partners. (!)

This year, I’ve been less Christmas-y than in years past.  Normally, I’m like wrapping paper!  Scotch tape!  Watching Little Women while drinking spiked wassail!

But this year, I have a sixteen-month old who’s made it her life goal to destroy our tree (and who currently has the stomach flu), a new job starting soon, and a novel that I’m scrabbling to revise as quickly as possible.  It’s just been too busy and too difficult this year to revel in the season like I normally do.  That being said, I do have a nice Christmas playlist going.

The highlights:

The Grinch Song–Thurl Ravenscroft (I *love* the wordplay in this song.  Okay, done being wanky.)

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen–BNL and Sarah Maclaclan

Little Saint Nick–She & Him (I once heard Zooey Deschanel referred to as a professional adorable person.  Sometimes this grates on me…but I do like this song.)

Auld Lang Syne–Die toten Hosen

Frosty the Snowman–Fiona Apple

Last Christmas–Florence and the Machine

The Coventry Carol–Loveliesbleeding

The Christmas Song–Dave Matthews Band (lovelovelove)

O Come O Come Emmanuel–Sufjan Stevens (You didn’t really think I’d leave Sufjan off the list, did you?)

aaaaaaaaaannnnnnd of course:

All I Want For Christmas Is You–Mariah Carey

Enjoy!

The lights at the Country Club Plaza

I forget, because I actually have stuff to do in the area, that the Country Club Plaza is insane at Christmas time.  What is the Country Club Plaza, one might ask?

Well, what isn’t the Country Club Plaza?

It’s got restaurants, shops and fake Spanish architecture.  Fountains and sculptures and parking garages that smell like urine.  It was the brainchild of the man who single-handedly engineered white flight in Kansas City and built covenant-only suburbs that excluded African-Americans, Jewish-Americans and Hispanic Americans (unless they were live-in maids.  How nice.)  Mostly, rich people go there to shop at places no one else can afford, and other people go to walk around and pretend that they’re shopping at places no one else can afford.  Or, if you’re like me, you go for the coffee, since it’s the closest source of non-McDonald’s coffee to my house.

And in the winter, it’s got lights!  With an exclamation point!  Lights!

And everyone says to one another, “Let us go and look at them!”

Now, I’m not really mocking the lights.  They are pretty.  The whole Plaza is pretty, really, when I suppress my natural inclination to judge the place for its creator.  Also, I’m only gently mocking the people who go to see the lights, because it is fun, especially for kids, even though it’s cold and crowded and you have to watch out for the horses trotting grimly along and the occasional violent teen riot.

What I’m whining about is the fact that I am now a coffee-shop vagrant, wandering from place to place, just looking for a table, and sometimes when I’m extra needy, an outlet, and I’m a stranger in my own cafes since they are flooded with shoppers and light-gazers.  AND, since the other students/writers/hipsters who normally frequent the coffee haunts are also being driven out by the crowds, the coffee shops surrounding the Plaza are packed too.  Where’s a lady to write?

Her house?

Psh.

I notice my Shelfari has a ranking system of five stars.  That matches up pretty closely to my book-rating system in my head, which looks like this:

1 Star: Throws Book Across the Room (See Modelland; The Shack)

2 Stars: Finishes But Isn’t Happy About It (The Lone Surfer of Montana, Kansas [which is despite having an affectionate outlook on the author, whom I saw speak/rap once.])

3 Stars: Shrug, Would Possibly Mention to a Friend (Rhett Butler’s People; Eat, Pray, Love)

4 Stars: Would Buy and Read Again (A Discovery of Witches; A Great and Terrible Beauty)

5 Stars: Can’t Put Down, Recommends to Everyone, Stalks Author on the Internet (Chime; Bossypants.)

Now there is a sixth sekrit category, and that is Books that Make Me Stare at a Wall.  That means after I finish reading the last page, my mind is SO BLOWN that I literally have to stare at a wall.  For like half an hour.  Or a day.

Not very many books make the Wall List, but when one does, EVERYBODY hears about it.  Examples: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; The King of Attolia; Sacred Scars; An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination; Gilead.  Obviously, The Lord of the Rings and Jane Eyre were some of the original Wall List books.

If you look at my Shelfari, you’ll see I have a plentitude of five and four star books.  This is because I’ve gotten pretty good about my book screening process, and discerning about what sources I glean my book recommendations from (sorry, Grandma Sandra.)  I have two kids, a job and a WIP — I really don’t have time to muck around with books that are only so-so, or that may be good, but in a genre that is not terribly interesting to me.  Some books with three star ratings have excellent prose but I wasn’t grabbed by the story, or the other way around; I have trouble forgiving a writer for either, and I’m usually pretty blunt about the books I connect with and the books I don’t.  Sometimes an author’s oeuvre will be kind of a roller-coaster for me.  Some Stephen King books I love, others I hate, although I always keep coming back.

I get most of my books from the library, for money reasons, so I’m usually a couple months behind the trendy new titles.  One day I will be famous and get ARCs, but for now, I’m too lame.  And anyway, I don’t have a whole lot of room for new books.  I have five full bookshelves as it is, and my husband will weep if we have to buy/find/beg for another one.

Do you have lots of books?  Your own book ranking system?

For real.  I’m lurking on the forums, looking at all these fantastic motivated people with their epic word counts, writing three chapters a day despite having two jobs, three kids, four dogs and a quilting business on the side.  I’m inspired by you folk!  And only in a medium-jealous way.

Other things I’m inspired by (friend edition [and no, not all the same friend]):

My friend is singing again!

My friend’s business is busier than ever!

My friend is getting married!

My friend is thinking about adopting!

My friend is finishing her book!

My friend has a book cover and a release date!

My friend is finishing her first semester of grad school!

My sister is in California, doing her advanced training for the Navy!

I’ve been sick all last week and this weekend, sipping Nyquil on the rocks and huffing eucalyptus oil  from a vaporizer, so I haven’t been making much use of the inspiration clouds hovering over me.  But this week is a new week!  And despite the sudden onset of gloomy cold November, I’m ready to set my nose to the grindstone again.  Onward and upward.